Published every Two Months. Sponsored by an International Group of Theosophists.
Objectives: To disseminate the teachings of the Ancient Wisdom. To uphold and
promote the Original Principles of the modern Theosophical Movement, as set
forth by H.P. Blavatsky and her Teachers. To challenge bigotry and superstition
in every form. To foster mutual understanding and co-operation among all
students of Theosophy, irrespective of their affiliation.
Editor: Boris de Zirkoff.
Contributing Editors: Irene R. Ponsonby, J. Emory Clapp, Arthur I. Joquel,
Nancy Browning.
Committee of Sponsors: T. Marriot, G. Cardinal Legros, Jan H. Venema, Col.
J. M. Prentice, Dudley W. Barr, Dr. Sven Eck.
Business Manager: Norine G. Chadil.

None of the organized Theosophical Societies, as such, are responsible
for any ideas expressed in this magazine, unless contained in an official
document. The Editors are responsible for unsigned articles only.

*

THOUGHTS TO REMEMBER

Men cannot be more dangerously deluded than in being
taught that the end of earthly life is happiness. Happiness is not of
the earth; and
to imagine that one will find it, is the surest means of losing the enjoyment
of the goods that God has placed within our reach. We have a great and
sacred function to perform, which, however, compels its to a stern and
perpetual strife. They feed the people with envy and hatred, in other
words with suffering, who contrast the pretended felicity of the rich
with the popular anguish and wretchedness. ... I have known them well
- these so happy rich people! Their insipid pleasures result in a cureless
satiety that has given me a conception of the infernal torments. There
are doubtless rich people who escape this fate, more or less, but by
means not of those which opulence procures.

Peace of mind is the foundation of real happiness; and this peace is
the fruit of duty perfectly fulfilled, of moderation in desire, of blessed
hopes, of pure affections. Nothing lofty, nothing beautiful, nothing
good is done on earth save at the cost of suffering and of self-abnegation;
and the sacrifice alone is fruitful. - Hugues de de Lamennais (1782-1854).

Let your cry be for free souls rather even than for free men. Moral
liberty is the one vitally important liberty, the one liberty which is
indispensable; the other liberty is good and salutary only so far as
it favors this. Subordination is in itself a better thing than independence.
The one implies order and arrangement; the other implies only self-sufficiency
with isolation. The one means harmony, the other a single tone; the one
is the whole, the other is but the part.

Liberty! Liberty! In all things let us have justice, and then we shall
have enough liberty. - Attributed to Joubert. [3]

*

THE
IMPERATIVE NEED OF ETHICSBoris de Zirkoff

As we pass the seventy-fifth milestone of the modern Theosophical Movement,
many thoughts come up for consideration, and many ideas suggest themselves.

We see today an entirely different world from the one which was familiar
at the time when H.P.B. laid down the age-old principles of the Ancient
Wisdom in terms adequate to the present age.

A great number of her prophetic statements, particularly those relating
to the development of modern Science, have become actualities. Yet we
witness at the present moment that same Science, proud of its mechanical
and at times philosophical achievements, meekly subordinating itself
to the authority of military cliques, and falling prey to the selfish
schemes of power-politics, those two infernal broods of man's lower mind,
begotten of his lust for power and coercion of other men.

Freedom of scientific research and of intellectual intercourse among
scientific men the world over is shackled today by forces which are nurtured
by fear, desire for exploitation, and the selfish passion for separateness
and division - in a world which is gradually realizing its complete and
irrevocable Unity, its spiritual, intellectual, and physical solidarity
and integration. And the only way by which Science - that veritable goddess
in the estimation of millions - can ever regain the freedom so essential
to its growth and unfoldment, is through the instrumentality of men and
women who have enough courage, boldness, and self-sacrificing love for
Truth, to wrench both scientific knowledge and the Means of scientific
research from all parochial, nationalistic, and sectarian domination,
for the sake, and in the name of, Humanity as a whole. Where are these
men and women? Let them come forth and make themselves known before it
is too late!

Nevertheless, it would be a grievous mistake to picture modern Science
as a beautiful and meek goddess that fell into the hands of scheming
leaders bent upon its subjugation. Science, as such, and men of science
individually, are themselves greatly to blame for this state of affairs.
Most of them have extolled for a generation or two the marvel of mechanical
inventions, and the wonder of theories and speculations which were supposed
to explain the nature and structure of matter itself; and this they have
done in utter disregard of the ethical implications which were and are
inherent to their own scientific research and accomplishment.

Science, as research and as occupation, either freighted with discoveries
already made, or fraught with potential discoveries of the yet unknown
but not unknowable, should be in the very nature of things firmly rooted
upon a foundation of Ethics, all of its achievements should be
projected, as it were, against the background of those foundation-principles
of human conduct which alone can safeguard humanity as a whole from the
misuse of scientific knowledge by others, for purposes of human destruction
or exploitation or enslavement. Unless Science becomes, and rapidly and
universally so becomes, imbued with the realization of the ethical implications
connected with its work, it will progressively become a more and more
dangerous weapon with which one portion of the human race will be scheming
the annihilation of the other, and vice versa. How far from that
are we today?

Do we need, therefore, less science than we already have? Not exactly.
But we do need less emphasis upon [4] certain aspects of science,
those conducive to further misuse and misapplication; and we do need
a great deal more science and research along such lines as are concerned
with human behavior, individually and collectively, and the welfare of
mankind on the global scale. The Science of the Atom could very well
wait, until the Science of Man has been given a chance to bring up the
rear!

We are reminded of the wise words of Sir Alfred Ewing,
one-time President of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science (The Literary
Digest, Oct. 15, 1932.):

"It is impossible not to ask, whither does this tremendous procession
tend? What, after all, is its goal? What is the probable influence on
the future of the human race?

"The scientists and engineers have dowered us with previously unpossessed
and unimagined capacities and powers.

"Beyond question many of these gifts are benefits to man, making
life fuller, wider, healthier, richer in comforts and interests and in
such happiness as material things can promote.

"But we are acutely aware that the engineer's gifts have been and
may be grievously abused. In some - there is potential tragedy as well
as present burden.

"Man was ethically unprepared for so great a bounty. In the slow
evolution of morals he is still unfit for the tremendous responsibility
it entails. The command of nature has been put into his hands before
he knows how to command himself."

Some years of world-agony followed this statement. Sir Alfred Ewing
was right. What would he say in 1950?

Nor was he the only one to feel the way he did. Another man of genuine
greatness of both mind and heart, Pierre Lecomte du Nouy, delivered himself
of a statement which is of equal moment and even greater urgency. He
wrote (Human Destiny, p. 139. Longman, Green and Co., N. Y., 1947):

"Man must be made to understand that the mechanical transformations
he has introduced in his environment and his adaptation to them will
mean either progress or ruin according to whether or not they are accompanied
by a correlative improvement in his moral attitude.

"The duty of man, therefore, is to rout out this false symbol of
civilization and to replace it by the true one: the development of human
dignity. Not by combating mechanical progress which would actually be
impossible, and might be disastrous because of the progress which must
still be made in the realm of pure science and of medicine - but by instructing
mankind and raising its moral standard."

Such pronouncements as these should become the everyday concern of all
scientists the world over. If backed with moral courage, determination
and the will to action along the highest lines of ethical conduct, such
realizations and convictions might well liberate all scientific endeavor
of the present generation from its shameful subservience to the selfish
interests of the few.

It has often been said by students of Theosophy that Science and the
Ancient Wisdom are allies in the Cause of Truth. This is true only if
we look upon Science as including the vast domain of human psychology,
ethics, behavior and morals. As long as modern Science has its center
of gravity in the realm of the "intangible," which, oddly enough,
has a tendency to become fully "tangible" in terms of bombs,
missiles, rockets, and the like, the Ancient Wisdom can hardly be called
its ally. It may be so if only scientific laboratory [5] speculations
are taken into consideration, prior to the time when they become transfigured
into weapons of destruction. But the real and only genuine integration
of Theosophy and Science can take place exclusively along such lines
where the ethical and spiritual background of the age-old teachings blends
with the ethical realization of scientific researchers in their endeavor
to build the foundations of a good life for mankind as a whole, and to
dedicate their entire effort to the betterment of man's nature and the
integration of the human race into one Brotherhood.

*

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK ...

Do you recommend a daily, though brief, period of meditation or contemplation
for the earnest student?

Yes, very definitely so. Particularly for those students whose daily
routine occupations are rather engrossing, and who know they will have
very little occasion to think of spiritual matters during the hours occupied
by their vocational duties.

A period of quiet meditation, both upon arising in the morning and just
before retiring at night, is of great spiritual benefit to the student.
It is like a moment of closer companionship with the Higher Self, wherein
help, inspiration and strength can be found with which to meet the problems
of the coming day, or guidance thought before embarking upon the journey
of the night, which men call sleep.

Meditation, however, should not be confused with any
kind of intellectual or mental effort, intended to solve some difficult
problem or to understand
some intricate teaching. Meditation is an attitude of the soul, not an
effort of the brain-mentality. It is an attitude of inner silence and
expectancy during which we allow our consciousness to listen, as it were,
to the silent music of the heart, our spiritual heart, the core of our
inmost being. While it could be thought of as akin to inner relaxation,
it should nevertheless be looked upon as a state of positivity,
of dynamic polarity spirit-ward. As such, it precludes any

negative state of mind and is the very opposite of psychic receptivity.
During true meditation, the consciousness of the student is polarized
towards his Higher Self and is attuned to its inner guidance, to a smaller
or greater extent, according to the spiritual status of the student,
his will, and his earnestness.

We should make every effort to bring into our daily routine, however
un-inspiring it may be at times, at least some of the constructive spiritual
thoughts and noble feelings to which we may have attained during our
period of meditation. In this manner we can help to raise our routine
occupation to a higher level, where it becomes but a means to growth.

As the student becomes more and more proficient in his meditative practice,
he becomes also more and more independent of any particular hour of the
day, which he had originally selected for meditation. He begins to be
aware of a steady undertone of meditation right through the daily work.
While a portion of his material mind is engrossed in the performance
of duties, a higher aspect of the Mind broods upon spiritual thoughts
and ideas, irrespective of what his hands may be doing. In due course
of time, meditation becomes a constant quality of his consciousness,
and a condition of his inner soul-life.

A thought for your meditation: "Learn to forgive.
Learn to love. You are an incarnate god. Be it!" [6]

*

A
FEW QUESTIONS TO "HIRAF" -
Author of the article "Rosicrucianism."by Madame H.P. Blavatsky
(Concluded from previous issue.)

The first Cabala in which a mortal man ever dared to explain the greatest
mysteries of the universe, and show the keys to "these masked doors
in the ramparts of Nature through which no mortal can ever pass without
rousing

dread sentries never seen upon this side of her wall," was compiled
by a certain Simeon Ben Iochai, who lived at the time of the second Temple's
destruction. Only about thirty years after the death of this renowned
Cabalist, his MSS. and written explanations, which had till then remained
in his possession as a most precious secret, were used by his son Rabbi
Eliazar and other learned men. Making a compilation of the whole, they
so produced the famous work called Sohar (God's splendour). This
book proved an inexhaustible mine for all the subsequent Cabalists, their
source of information and knowledge, and all more recent and genuine
Cabalas were more or less carefully copied from the former. Before that,
all the mysterious doctrines had come down in an unbroken line of merely
oral traditions as far back as man could trace himself on earth. They
were scrupulously and jealously guarded by the Wise Men of Chaldea, India,
Persia and Egypt, and passed from one initiate to another, in the same
purity of form as when handed down to the first man by the angels, students
of God's great Theosophic Seminary. For the first time since the world's
creation, the secret doctrines, passing through Moses who was initiated
in Egypt, underwent some slight alterations. In consequence of the personal
ambition of this great prophet-medium, he succeeded in passing off his
familiar spirit, the wrathful "Jehovah," for the spirit of
God himself, and so won undeserved laurels and honors. The same influence
prompted him to alter some of the principles of the great oral Cabala
in order to make them the more secret. These principles were laid out
in symbols by him in the first four books of the Pentateuch, but
for some mysterious reasons he withheld them from Deuteronomy.
Having initiated his seventy Elders in his own way, the latter could
give but what they had received themselves, and so was prepared the first
opportunity for heresy, and the erroneous interpretations of the symbols.
While the Oriental Cabala remained in its pure primitive shape, the Mosaic
or Jewish one was full of drawbacks, and the keys to many of the secrets
forbidden by the Mosaic law - purposely misinterpreted. The powers conferred
by it on the initiates were formidable still, and of all the most renowned
Cabalists, King Solomon and his bigoted parent, David, notwithstanding
his penitential psalms, were the most powerful. But still the doctrine
remained secret and purely oral, until, as I have said before, the days
of the second "Temple's destruction. Philologically speaking, the
very word Cabala is formed from two Hebrew words, meaning to receive,
as in former times the initiate received it orally and directly from
his Master, and the very Book of the Sohar was written out on
received information, which was handed down as an unvarying stereotyped
tradition by the Orientals, and altered through the ambition of Moses,
by the Jews.

If the primitive Rosicrucians learned their first lessons of wisdom
from Oriental masters, not so with their direct descendants, the fire-philosophers
or Paracelsists; for in many things the Cabala of the latter Illuminati proves
to be degenerated into a twin sister of the Jewish. Let us compare. Besides
admitting the "Shedim," or intermediate spirits of the
Jews - the elementary [7] ones, which they divide into four classes,
those of the air, of the water, the fire, and of minerals - the Christian
Cabalist believes like the Jewish, in Asmodeus, the Ever-accursed
One, or our good friend the orthodox Satan. Asmodeus, or Asmodi,
is the chief of the elementary goblins. "This doctrine alone differs
considerably from the Oriental philosophy, which denies that the great
Ain-soph (the Endless or Boundless) who made his existence known through
the medium of the spiritual substance sent forth from his Infinite Light
- the oldest of the ten Intelligences or Emanations - the first Sephira
- could ever create an endless macrocosmal evil. It (Oriental philosophy)
teaches us that, though the first three spheres out of the seven - taking
it for granted that our planet comes in fourth - are inhabited by elementary
or future men (this might account for the modern doctrine of Reincarnation,
perhaps) and, though until they become such men they are beings with
immortal souls in them and but the "grossest purgations of the celestial
fire," still they do not belong to Eternal Evil. Every one of them
has the chance in store of having its matter reborn on this "fourth
sphere," which is our planet, and so have "the gross purgation" purified
by the Immortal Breath of the Aged of the Aged, who endows every human
being with a portion of his boundless self. Here, on our planet, commences
the first spiritual transition, from the infinite to the Finite, of the
elementary matter which first proceeded from the pure Intelligence, or
God, and also the operation of that pure Principle upon this material
purgation. Thus begins the immortal man to prepare for Eternity.

In their primitive shape, the elementary spirits, so
often mistaken in modern Spiritualism for the undeveloped or unprogressed
spirits of our dead, stand in relation to our planet as we stand in relation
to the Summer Land. When we use the term "disembodied spirit," we
only repeat what the elementary ones most certainly think or say of us
human beings, and if they are as yet devoid of immortal souls, they are,
nevertheless, gifted with instinct and craft, and we appear as little
material to them as the spirits of the fifth sphere appear to us. With
our passage into each subsequent sphere, we throw off something of our
primitive grossness. Hence, there is eternal progress - physical and
spiritual - for every living being. The transcendental knowledge and
philosophy of the greatest Oriental Cabalists never penetrated beyond
a certain mark, and the Hermetist, or rather Rosicrucian, if we would
be precise, never went farther than to solve the majestic, but more limited
problems of the Jewish Cabala; which we can divide thus:

1. The nature of the Supreme Being;
2. The origin, creation, or generation, or out-flowingof angels and
man;
3. The ultimate destiny of angels, man and the Universe; or the inflowing;
4. To point out to humanity the real meaning of the whole of the Hebrew Scriptures.

As it is, the real, the complete Cabala of the first ages of humanity
is in possession, as I said before, of but a few Oriental philosophers,
where they are, who they are, is more than is given me to reveal. Perhaps
I do not know it myself, and have only dreamed it. Thousands will say
it is all imagination; so be it. Time will show. The only thing I can
say is that such a body exists, and that the location of their Brotherhoods
will never be revealed to other countries, until the day when Humanity
shall awake in a mass from its spiritual lethargy, and open its blind
eyes to the dazzling light of Truth. A too premature discovery might
blind them, perhaps for ever. Until then, the speculative theory of their
existence, will be supported by what people erroneously [8] believe
to be supernal facts. Notwithstanding the selfish, sinful opposition
of science to Spiritualism in general, and that of the scientists in
particular, who, forgetting that their first duty is to enlighten Humanity,
instead of that, allow millions of people to lose themselves and drift
about like so many disabled ships, without pilot or compass, among the
sandbanks of superstition; notwithstanding the toy-thunderbolts and harmless
anathemas hurled around by the ambitious and crafty clergy, who, above
all men, ought to believe in spiritual truths; notwithstanding the apathetic
indifference of that class of people who prefer believing in nothing,
pretending the while to believe in the teachings of their churches, which
they select according to their best notions of respectability and fashion;
notwithstanding all these things, Spiritualism will rise above all, and
its progress can be as little helped as the dawn of the morning or the
rising of the sun. Like the former, will the glorious Truth arise among
all these black clouds gathered in the East; like the latter, will its
brilliant light pour forth upon awakening humanity its dazzling rays.
These rays will dissipate these clouds and the unhealthy mists of a thousand
religious sects which disgrace the present century. They will warm up
and recall into new life the millions of wretched souls who shiver and
are half frozen under the icy hand of killing skepticism. Truth will
prevail at last, and Spiritualism, the new world's conqueror, reviving,
like the fabulous Phoenix out of the ashes of its first parent Occultism,
will unite for ever in one Immortal Brotherhood all antagonistic races;
for this new St. Michael will crush for ever the dragon's head-of Death!

I have but a few words more to say before I close. To admit the possibility
of anyone becoming a practical Cabalist (or a Rosicrucian, we will call
him, as the names seem to have become synonymous) who simply has the
firm determination to "become" one, and hopes to get the secret
knowledge through studying the Jewish Cabala, or every other one that
may come into existence, without actually being initiated by another,
and so being "made" such by someone who "knows," is
as foolish as to hope to thread the famous labyrinth without the clue,
or to open the secret locks of the ingenious inventors of the mediaeval
ages, without having possession of the keys. If the Christian New Testament,
the easiest and youngest of all the Cabalas known to us, has presented
such immense difficulties to those who would interpret its mysteries
and secret meanings (which were they only once studied with the key of
modern Spiritualism would open as simply as the casket in Aesop's fable),
what hope can there be for a modern Occultist, learned only in theoretical
knowledge, to ever attain his object? Occultism without practice will
ever be like the statue of Pygmalion, and no one can animate it without
infusing into it a spark of the sacred Divine Fire. The Jewish Cabala,
the only authority of the European Occultist, is all based on the secret
meanings of the Hebrew scriptures, which, in their turn, indicate the
keys to them, by signs hidden and unintelligible to the uninitiated.
They afford no hope for the adepts to solve them practically. The Seventh
Rule of the Rosicrucian "who became, but was not made" has
its secret meaning, like every other phrase left by the Cabalists to
posterity, in writing. The words: "The dead letter killeth," which
Hiraf quotes, can be applied in this case with still more justice than
to the Christian teachings of the first apostles. A Rosicrucian had to
struggle ALONE, and toil long years to find some of the preliminary secrets
- the A B C of the great Cabala - only on account of his ordeal, during
which were to be tried all his mental and physical energies. After that,
if found worthy, the word "Try" was repeated to him for the
last time before the final ceremony of the ordeal. When the High Priests
of the Temple of Osiris, of Serapis, and others, brought the [9] neophyte
before the dreaded Goddess Isis, the word "Try" was pronounced
for the last time; and then, if the neophyte could withstand that final
mystery, the most dreaded as well as the most trying of all horrors for
him who knew not what was in store for him; if he bravely "lifted
the veil of Isis," he became an initiate, and had naught to fear
more. He had passed the last ordeal, and no longer dreaded to meet face
to face the inhabitants from "over the dark river."

The only cause for the horror and dread we feel in the presence of death,
lies in its unsolved mystery. A Christian will always fear it, more or
less; an initiate of the secret science, or a true Spiritualist,
never; for both of the latter have lifted the veil of Isis, and the great
problem is solved by both, in theory and in practice.

Many thousand years ago the wise King Solomon declared that "There
is nothing new under the Sun," and the words of this very wise man
ought to he repeated till the farthest ends of time. There is not a science,
nor a modern discovery in any secretion of it, but was known to the Cabalists
thousands of years since. This will appear a bold and ridiculous assertion,
I know; and one apparently unconfirmed by any authority. But I will answer
that where truth stares one in the face, there can be no other authority
than one's senses. The only authority I know of, lies scattered throughout
the East. Besides, who would ever dare, in the ever-changing, ever-discovering
Europe, or adolescent America, to risk proclaiming himself as an authority?
The scientist, who was an authority yesterday, becomes by the mere lucky
chance of a contemporary discoverer, a worn-out hypothesist. How easily
the astronomer of today forgets that all his science is but the picking
up of crumbs left by the Chaldean astrologists. What would not modern
physicians, practitioners of their blind and lame science of medicine,
give for a part of the knowledge of botany and plants - I won't say of
the Chaldeans - but even of the more modern Essenians. The simple history
of the Eastern people, their habits and customs, ought to be a sure guarantee
that what they once knew, they cannot have totally forgotten. While Europe
has changed twenty times its appearance, and been turned upside down
by religious and political revolutions and social cataclysms, Asia has
remained stationary. What was, two thousand years ago, exists now with
very little variation. Such practical knowledge as was possessed by the
ancients could not die out so soon with such a people. The hope of finding
remnants even of such wisdom as Ancient Asia possessed, ought to tempt
our conceited modern science to explore her territory.

And thus is it that all we know of what we profess and live upon, comes
to us from the scorned, despised Occultism of the East. Religion and
sciences, laws and customs - all of these, are closely related to Occultism,
and are but its result, its direct products, disguised by the hand of
time, and palmed upon us under new pseudonyms. If people ask me for the
proof, I will answer that it does not enter my province to teach others
what they can learn themselves with very little difficulty, provided
they give themselves the trouble to read and think over what they read.
Besides, the time is near when all the old superstitions and the errors
of centuries must be swept away by the hurricane of Truth. As the prophet
Mohammed, when he perceived that the mountain would not come to him,
went himself towards the mountain, so Modern Spiritualism made its unexpected
appearance from the East, before a skeptical world, to terminate in a
very near future the oblivion into which the ancient secret wisdom had
fallen.

Spiritualism is but a baby now, an unwelcome stranger, whom public opinion,
like an unnatural foster-mother, tries to crush out of existence. But
it is [10] growing, and this same East may one day send some experienced
clever nurses to take care of it. The immediate danger of Salem tragedies
has passed away. The Rochester knockings, tiny as they were, awoke some
vigilant friends, who, in their turn, aroused thousands and millions
of jealous defenders for the true Cause. The most difficult part is done;
the door stands ajar; it remains for such minds as Hiraf invites to help
earnest truth-seekers to the key which will open for them the gates,
and aid them to pass the threshold dividing this world from the next, "without
rousing the dread sentries never seen upon this side of her wall." It
belongs to the exact knowledge of the Occultist to explain and alter
much of what seems "repulsive" in Spiritualism, to some of
the too delicate Orthodox souls. The latter may object the more to Spiritualistic
phenomena, on the ground that Cabalism is mixed up with it. They will
begin to prove that Occultism, if it does exist, is the forbidden "Black
Art," the sorcery for which people were burnt, not so long ago.
In such a case I will humbly reply, that there is nothing in nature but
has two sides to it. Occultism is certainly no exception to the rule,
and is composed of White and Black magic. But so in Orthodox
religion, likewise. When an Occultist is a real Rosicrucian, he is a
thousand times purer and nobler, and more divine, than any of the holiest
Orthodox priests; but when one of the latter gives himself up to the
turbulent demon of his own vile passions, and so rouses all the fiends,
they shout with joy at the sight of such a perversity, in what, pray,
is this Orthodox priest better than the blackest of all the sorcerers'
dealings with the Elementary "Dweller," or with the "Diakka" of
A.J. Davis? Verily, we have White and Black Christianity,
as well as White and Black magic.

O, you very Orthodox priests and clergymen of various creeds and denominations,
you who are so intolerant towards Spiritualism, this purest of the Children
of Ancient Magic, can you tell me why, in such a case, you practice

daily yourselves, all the most prominent rites of magic in your churches,
and follow the antitypes of the very ceremonies of Occultism? Can you
light a taper, or illuminate your altars with circles of wax lights,
for instance, and not repeat the rites of magic? What is your altar with
the vertical burning candles, but the modern mimicry of the original
magic monolith with the Baal fires upon it? Don't you know that by doing
so you are following in the steps of the ancient fire-worshipers, the
Persian Heathen Guebres? And your Pope's sparkling mitre, what is it
but the direct descendant of the Mithraic Sacrifice, symbolical covering
invented for the heads of the high priests of this very Occultism in
Chaldea? Having passed through numerous transformations it now rests
in its last (?) Orthodox shape, upon the venerable head of your successor
of St. Peter. Little do the devout worshipers of the Vatican suspect,
when they lift up their eyes in mute adoration upon the head of their
God on Earth, the Pope, that what they admire, is after all, but the
caricatured head-dress, the amazon-like helmet of Pallas Athene, the
heathen goddess Minerva! In fact, there is scarcely a rite or ceremony
of the Christian Church, that does not descend from Occultism.

But say or think what you will, you cannot help that which was, is,
and ever will be, namely, the direct communication between the two worlds.
We term this intercourse modern Spiritualism, with the same right and
logic as when we say the "New World," in speaking of America.

I will close by startling, perhaps, even Orthodox Spiritualists by re-affirming
that all who have ever witnessed our modern materializations of genuine
spirit-forms, have, unwittingly, become the initiated neophytes of Ancient
Mystery, for each and all of them have solved the problem of Death, have "lifted
the veil of Isis." [11]

*

LIGHT
FOR THE MINDL.B.

It is a valuable exercise for everyone occasionally to take one of the
common words in use to find out what we really mean and understand about
it, and to search for its essential qualities. In philosophical study "LIGHT" is
a particularly interesting word.

The word LIGHT has so many connotations and is so glibly spoken of that
it is taken for granted that we know exactly what we mean when using
it. But actually this is not the case, for in probing deeply into the
matter it soon becomes evident that, although the word conveys a certain
definiteness, yet the implications involved are quite another thing.

Light is the background by which we, as humans, perceive by the
aid of the eyes - as a connecting link between the MIND and the various
senses - the objective physical world. The objective world, however,
is not confined to the physical plane of manifestation but pertains in
a very great degree to the inner planes - of ideas, rationalization,
and to some extent even of Abstract Thought. Therefore, LIGHT, of its
own kind, must be the background which throws into relief whatever is
under observation.

This implies that nothing is seen in its essential nature or self, but
only to the degree to which we may have developed an appropriate apparatus capable
of sensing and transmitting impressions which are susceptible
of translation to our minds at any given time, and strictly according
to the Mind's capacity or development.

When a "flash of illumination" extends our range or understanding,
or gives a strong uplift to the emotional self, it is too often
assumed that a contact has been made with "God" or the "OVERSOUL." However
near the mark this may or may not be, these terms are by no means definite
or descriptive enough to be encouraged in their use. True understanding is fact
in degree; and we need more knowledge of the processes and the principles
of Cosmic Nature before an accurate evaluation or clear description of
any event is made.

In connection therewith we cannot exclude some of the axioms of Science
which are proved by experience in every department of physical or material
life, such as: Cause and Effect in an endless chain of Action and Reaction,
Rhythmic Cycles, Appearance and Disappearance - on our plane of effects,
whose causes are beyond out knowledge.

Let us consider two main postulates, those of the Essential Divinity
in all things, and the fact of a so-called Spiritual World in distinction
to the so-called Material or Physical World.

One must accept something as a starting point or basis for anything,
so in our endeavor to designate a First Cause it has become a habit to
assign it a word or name such as "God" - from which our concept
of "divinity" is derived. Other languages and philosophies
have other terms which are similar, some even postulating a CAUSELESS
CAUSE.

Now from a philosophic point of view and owing to the urge for rationalization
by the mind, it is extremely valuable and essential that the individual
should delve into these abstract subjects and come to some clear conclusions.
Unless he does so he can not integrate what further ideas and knowledge
he may obtain. But with a certain conviction of the fact that there are
no absolute ultimates he can proceed to make a coherent map or schedule
of the known processes, and to fill in details which must necessarily
belong to these same processes when extended to include larger or subtler
existences.

We can start somewhat like this: The natural processes pertaining to
earthly phenomena are fairly well catalogued, but are only tabulated
from their points of appearance - [12] which must necessarily
be effects. Animate life can be traced to the amoeba and possibly
somewhat beyond, but, WHAT IS LIFE, and what caused the particular manifestation
under observation?

LIFE is everywhere-seen or unseen. A- manifestation must have
a preceding cause however imperceptible to us. The fact that we are unable
to perceive previous processes and stages implies that the other planes
from which the manifestations on our plane are only the effects, would
have appropriate vehicles for intelligent expression. And as Nature
never proceeds by "jumps," the conclusion is unavoidable that
there is a complete integration of the innumerable degrees
and stages of manifestation, on innumerable PLANES of BEING, of which
the Human on this planet Earth is of minor, although essential, importance,
because it is a stage in the processes inherent in the GRAND PLAN.

LIGHT and MIND, therefore, have their degrees, of which those possible
to the Human phase are decidedly relative; and in studying human life-experiences,
the other attributes of the manifested human must be taken into consideration
and integrated with the whole.

Without attempting a detailed catalogue of the attributes of prior causes,
it is important to recognize that there is a double evolution or flow
of impulse. Roughly, it may be called or classed as a reciprocal action
of Positive and Negative currents, and an Ebb and Flow in a cyclic rhythm.

It takes energy to digest food, so too it takes energy to grow; and
as, obviously, there is a more or less permanent model on and
through which all things develop or change their essential temporary
characteristics, this model or "blueprint" inheres in or on
a plane contiguous to the physical plane, and apparently is a precursor
of physical manifestations. This, together with the currents of the forces
pertaining to physical expression, and the emotional reactions consequent
upon their action through their appropriate outlets or organs, makes
up a more or less integrated entity - human or other; but as a developed
human entity exhibits qualities and phases of expression which are decidedly
superior to any combination of these lower attributes, the integration
of these superior influences must be a fact, or there could not occur
an intelligent and obviously directed outflow of stimuli, which impinge
on and inform individual human entities as well as the general
masses.

These words - impinging, stimuli, inform, are very important and need
to be integrated, and, so far as is possible, to be seen as being
in the very nature of all processes. However mechanistic the natural
processes may seem to be to us, a very small amount of effort
at understanding the rationale must lead to the perception of an over-all
Plan in the Cosmos. Such being the case, this planet Earth, Humanity,
and all things upon it can not be outside the general Plan; so
they must necessarily be an integral part of it. And as there are qualities
in humanity - and everywhere else - which ARE, and are not merely fortuitous
occurrences, and can be perceived by the various organs of
reception, for reaction, and transmission, the background
upon which they are thrown into relief can be accepted as LIGHT, and
defined as a superior grade of MATTER which transmits and reflects
from contiguous planes all appropriate circulations of the Cosmos.

We have dealt with "Light for the Mind, and to some extent "Understanding
for the Intellect," - but what about "Love for the Heart?" Is
the "Love" here mentioned an impersonal outpouring or
is it a personal emotion? Cosmic Love, so-called, is undoubtedly an outpouring
from the Essence of BEING, so we can form our own conclusions and ponder
deeply on this Triplicity in Unity. It will lead to further ENLIGHTENMENT. [13]

*

ATLANTIS
AND THE SWASTIKAArthur Louis Joquel, II

One of the most valuable sources of information in any search for historical
evidence pertaining to the lost world of Atlantis are the various symbols
used by early peoples.

Among these symbols, some of which are simple in design, and others
much more complex, we find the swastika, or svastica - the cross made
from two bars of equal length, crossing each other at right angles, and
with the four ends bent at right angles in the same direction.

The swastika has been the object of study and consideration by almost
every author who has written on symbolism. For example, H.P. Blavatsky
says of it:

"The Svastica is the most philosophically scientific of
all symbols, as also the most comprehensible. It is the summary in a
few lines of the whole work of creation, or evolution, as one
should rather say, from Cosmotheogony down to Anthropogony, from the
indivisible unknown Parabrahm to the humble moneron of materialistic
science. ... The Svastica is found heading the religious symbols
of every old nation. . . .

"... (It) refers to the continual motion and revolution
of the invisible Kosmos of Forces. ... it points to the rotation in the
cycles of Time of the world's axes - and their equatorial belts - the
two lines forming the Svastica meaning Spirit and Matter, the
four hooks suggesting the motion in the revolving cycles. ... It is at
one and the same time an Alchemical, Cosmogonical, Anthropological, and
Magical sign, with seven keys to its inner meaning. It is not too much
to say that the compound symbolism of this universal and most suggestive
of signs contains the key to the seven great mysteries of Kosmos." (The
Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, pages 98-99.)

In our quest for remains of Atlantis, however, we are concerned with
the more mundane aspects of the swastika, and particularly as to whether
its occurrence and distribution will yield any clues on the extent of
the Atlantean empire between the dates of approximately 80,000 B.C. and
9564 B.C., when the island of Poseidonis, the mid-Atlantic remnant of
the once great continent, was destroyed.

That the distribution of the swastika during this period can be definitely
attributed to Atlantis appears to be capable of demonstration. Thomas
Wilson, one of the foremost authorities on this emblem, points out that:

"Prehistoric archaeologists have found in Europe
many specimens of ornamental sculpture and engraving belonging to the
Paleolithic age, but the cross is not known in any form, Swastika or
other. In the Neolithic age, which spread itself over nearly the entire
world, with many geometric forms of decoration, no form of the cross
appears in times of high antiquity as a symbol or as indicating any other
than an ornament. In the age of Bronze, however, the Swastika appears,
intentionally used, as a symbol as well as an ornament. ... The Swastika
spread through the same countries as did the bronze, and there is every
reason to believe them to have proceeded contemporaneously ..." (The
Swastika, pages 791-792.)

Ignatius Donnelly, a profound student of the Atlantean question, accepted
as a fundamental premise that the knowledge of metal-working originated
in Atlantis, and that the [14] "Bronze Age" implements
in Europe were derived from that source. Even the most ancient written
record, that included in his dialogue "The Critias" by Plato,
indicates that this must have been the case:

"In the first place, the island supplied them with
such things as are dug out of mines in a solid state, and with those
such as are
melted. ...

"They likewise covered the superfices of the wall
... with brass ...; but they covered the superfices of that wall which
inclosed the
interior with tin. ..."

Concerning the distribution of the swastika, H.P. Blavatsky writes: "So
ancient is the symbol and so sacred, that there is hardly an excavation
made on the sites of old cities without its being found. ..."

"Throw a retrospective glance, and see it used alike by the Initiates
and Seers, as by the priests of Troy. ... One finds it with the old Peruvians,
the Assyrians, Chaldeans, as well as on the walls of the old-world cyclopean
buildings. ..." (The Secret Doctrine, Vol. I, pages 101 and
586.)

A great number of the bronze ornaments and weapons which have been found
in Ireland, Scotland, France, Scandinavia, Germany, and elsewhere show
the figure of the swastika. It is seen on ancient coins from India, Palestine,
Denmark, and Corinth. It adorns pottery in Cyprus and stone slabs in
Mayapan.

The swastika is found ornamenting the "footprints of the Buddha" in
India, on shell gorgets from Tennessee mounds, and spindle-whorls from
ancient Troy. Edgar Lucien Larkin, one-time director of Lowe Observatory,
said that he had seen a solar disc and four swastikas carved above the
entrance to a prehistoric cave-temple on Santa Catalina Island, California.

Donnelly wrote, regarding the extent of the Atlantean empire:

"... there once existed in the Atlantic Ocean,
opposite the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, a large island, which was
the remnant of the Atlantic continent ... it became, in the course of
ages, a populous and mighty nation, from whose overflowings the shores
of the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, the Amazon, the Pacific
coast of South America, the Mediterranean, the west coast of Europe and
Africa, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian were populated by
civilized nations." (Atlantis,
page 1.).

In addition to the extent of the Atlantean empire set forth in his original
premise, Donnelly suggested further on that it may have stretched throughout
Arabia, encompassed all of India, and reached as far as China across
the center of Asia.

In Wilson's work on the swastika he presents a map which shows the distribution
of the symbol. This map, and that of Donnelly showing the extent of Atlantean
influence, are virtually identical.

That this extensive distribution is a matter of considerable significance
may be judged by several of Wilson's comments:

"Instead of the Swastika being a sign easily made,
the experience of the writer is the contrary. A simple cross ... may
be very easy to make, but a really good specimen of the Swastika is difficult
to make. ... This goes to show the intention of the artist to have been
more or less deliberate; and that the object was for a special purpose,
with a particular idea, either as a symbol, charm, or ornament, and not
a meaningless figure to fill a vacant space." (The Swastika,
pages 954-955.)

In view of this, it is difficult to [15] account for the ubiquity
of the swastika if it had a spiritual significance only. Religious emblems
are not commonly found on pottery, sword hilts, coins, and other similar
implements. For a possible explanation, we advance a suggestion made
by Philip Binger in a little pamphlet titled More Light on the Swastika.
After determining that the origins of the swastika lead to Atlantis,
he describes the island thus:

"It was an immense island, a few days journey from the Pillars
of Hercules toward the setting Sun, in the midst of which was a smoking
mountain. Four rivers, born in its flanks, flowed to the four cardinal
points, and these four rivers terminated in canals.

"Now, if we carry out this description on a horizontal plane, we
have a cross; the four rivers and the four branches of the canals, or,
the Swastika."

While Plato does not mention the four rivers, they are ascribed to Atlantis
by several sources. The fact of canal-building on Poseidonis is included
in the Platonic narrative, however, one such being described as three
hundred feet in width and one hundred feet deep, extending for several
hundred miles.

Since the great metropolis of Poseidonis, known as the City of the Golden
Gates, was established by Atlantean Initiates, and laid out in a symbolical
form with concentric zones of land and water, it seems well within the
bounds of possibility that either the vast plain on which the city stood,
or the river-canal system of the entire continent, had been so designed
as to simulate the form of the swastika, as representing a cosmic symbol.

Thus the bent-armed cross became the visible insignia of the Atlantean
empire, carried by its teachers, armies and colonist, over more than
half of the world. This is in keeping with both an exoteric and esoteric
meaning of the swastika - a symbol of physical suzerainty as well as
a representation of spiritual truths.

After the sinking of Poseidonis, the true meaning of the swastika was
preserved in the oriental schools. H.P. Blavatsky tells something of
this in The Secret Doctrine:

"With the esoteric (and, for the matter of that, exoteric) Buddhist,
the Chinaman and the Mongolian, it means 'the 10,000 truths.' These truths,
they say, belong to the mysteries of the unseen Universe and primordial
Cosmogony and Theogony. ... This is why the Swastika is always
placed ... on the breasts of defunct mystics. It is found on the heart
of the images and statues of Buddha, in Tibet and Mongolia. ..." (Vol.
I, pages 585-586.)

In conclusion, we refer again to The Swastika by Thomas Wilson.
In the introduction, he says:

"No conclusion is attempted as to the time or place
of origin, or the primitive meaning of the Swastika, because these are
considered
to be lost in antiquity ... But the Swastika was probably the first
(symbol) to be made with a definite intention and a continuous or consecutive
meaning, the knowledge of which passed from person to person, from tribe
to tribe, from people to people, and from nation to nation, until ...
it has finally circled the globe." [16]

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